So, the service licence review of Radio 5 Live by the BBC Trust is under way, and we are at the centre of a lively debate. In truth, we are delighted by that. Established in 1994, in relative terms we are one of the new kids on the block for BBC national radio and to be talked about, and analysed, in the same way as our colleagues at Radio 1, 2 and 4 have been previously, confirms we've arrived on centre stage.

And that's where we've worked hard to get to. We have record audience figures of more than 7 million and we have built a good reputation across the industry with another record last month – 16 Sony award nominations, nine of which are for our news programmes.

Our friends at TalkSport (yes, there's a lot of mutual respect between us) have been keen to contribute to the debate. We respect their right to challenge us on our news content but it's not really a debate about what they think. The debate should start with the views of what our 7 million listeners think, that's who the BBC Trust really want to hear from over the next few weeks.

Do we do enough news, and do we do the right type of news? Well, we do big breaking stories very well, judging by our hours of rolling coverage on the day of the Japanese earthquake; and, as for domestic politics, there can't have been a more creative and powerful treatment of the AV debate than Victoria Derbyshire's mock election show three weeks ago, which politicians from all sides are still talking about. And then there's Stephen Nolan – did you hear his interview with the Real IRA man who won't give up terrorism? What a powerful piece of radio, getting to the heart of a story. But are phone-ins news? Maybe we should ask the stammerers who contributed to a Nicky Campbell phone-in on the subject which had been highlighted by the film, The King's Speech. It was the most moving and powerful phone-in you could wish to hear. I could have used Nicky's phone-ins on autism and depression as other agenda-setting examples. Is there any other radio station in the UK that can do all that?

We do light and shade. Our most experienced journalist, Peter Allen, can be in Cairo one minute describing the scenes at the fall of president Mubarak, and the next he could be inviting text messages from listeners telling jokes to cheer up motorists stuck in traffic. It's what we do. We have a warm and conversational style on our news programmes that we think is unique to us.

News, for us, can also mean interviews with celebrities, be it Katie Price criticising Frankie Boyle or Ricky Gervais on his performance at the Golden Globes. It can even mean a debate about the latest EastEnders storyline or X Factor controversy. We are not embarrassed about it – we like the fact we can take our listeners from politics to film reviews, and from Cairo to Coronation Street. Decisions we have made recently including a new politics show for John Pienaar, a business show for Declan Curry, and a Sunday morning show for Laura Kuenssberg starting in July, highlight how serious we are about journalism.

I'm biased of course but not naive or complacent. The conversational style we have allows our presenters to express themselves, which means some will always divide opinion more than others. For every listener who says Peter Allen's drivetime show is the best on the station, there is another who'll tell you our sports entertainment show Fighting Talk with Colin Murray is a must-listen. We have a range of voices that has helped us reach so many new listeners over the past three years.

We like to think we lead the way on sports broadcasting as well, and I'm sure strong competition from the likes of Absolute Radio and TalkSport has only helped improve what we do.

Our job in the management team is to be guardians of this BBC service, and the BBC Trust's job is to challenge us, push us, and ultimately help set us in the right direction. It comes at a perfect time for us. We are about to move into our fantastic new home in Salford Quays so to have a clear remit for the next five years to coincide with that is perfect.

Whatever the outcome, we have a strong lineup of presenters and are equally proud of our talented programme makers on the other side of the glass. And yes, we are all on the bus to Salford Quays in September before you ask. It won't be grim up north.

• Jonathan Wall is deputy controller and commissioning editor of 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra

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